Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Taxing America’s Future

The American Dream is being undermined by government
policies. “The sweeping tax overhaul House Republicans introduced [November 2]
would eliminate or scale back some of the biggest incentives for home-buying in
federal law,” wrote Russell Berman in The Atlantic. This would, he said, cut in
half the limit on deducting mortgage interest, cap property tax deductibility,
repeal the tax deduction for moving expenses, and force more people to pay
taxes on profits made from selling a home.

The low-earning Millennial
Generation has already postponed buying their first home, which has postponed
marriages and couples starting a family, which has in turn helped spawn the
lowest fertility rate in American history. Higher taxes, in other words, have
unintended consequences. In this case, raising taxes on home ownership could
mean far fewer children in this generation – and far fewer future workers to
pay for Social Security and Medicare that are already speeding toward
bankruptcy. [more...]